Monday, May 27, 2013

After a few weeks of planning and coordinating, 7 of us met up at Crusader's Retreat (a local game store located at 40th Street & Thunderbird in Phoenix) yesterday for a large ACW battle using Black Powder rules. By large I mean both the size of the table and then number of figures. The game was played on a 12' x 6' table and pitted 3 brigades of Confederates against 4 brigades of Union. The total figure count for the game was around 770!

Robert and I supplied all of the miniatures and Tim K, Robert and I supplied the terrain. My contributions for the terrain were the church, camp, store, farmhouse and the vast majority of the fencing (all by Renendra...great stuff!). I won't give a running commentary as this was really an introduction for us to see how well the game played with 7 players (no problems), with that many troops (again, no problems), using such a big table (wonderful, though Tom F did need occaisional assistance reaching the middle of the table as the tables were a little high), and that much terrain (definitely needed for ACW as it helps control movement and helps reduce the effectiveness of shooting). We knew the Confederates would be hard pressed from the beginning as they were outnumbered 4 to 3, but two of their brigadiers seemed to be plagued by poor command dice and that really sealed their fate.

I believe that everyone had a great time and we will likely play again in the next couple of months. For our next game we will be introducing some variability to unit size, unit quality, special rules, armament, quality of commanders, etc. as well as having the game be more scenario driven with objectives.

The pictures below show the layout as well as the battle at different stages.

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Here are pictures of the 28mm ACW Union Command & Artillery that currently complete my force. All figures are by Sash & Saber and were painted by Philgreg Painters and myself. I also did the basing (which I hate to do...). Flags are from GMB Flags. These figures will make their debut on the table today in a game of Black Powder (I hope to have pictures and a brief AAR of that game posted soon).

Division General Birney﻿

Brigadier Burling

Brigadier Graham

Various Commanders

Union 12-pound Napoleon Battery

Union 10-pound Rifled Artillery Battery #1

Union 10-pound Rifled Artillery Battery #2

Completing these allows me to place my ACW project to the side for a while (with the exception of using it in games that is). Eventually I would like to add some cavalry along with some different command stands, but that's down the road.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

As promised here are pictures of the 28mm American Civil War Union Infantry Regiments that I've just completed. All figures are by Sash & Saber with the flags from GMB Flags. Painting was done by Philgreg Painters and myself; I also did the basing. As with my Confederates, I think I'm done building infantry and will likely only add different command groups going forward along with possibly doing some cavalry (both mounted and dismounted).

2nd New Hampshire Infantry Regiment﻿

3rd Maine Infantry Regiment

7th New Jersey Infantry Regiment

57th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment

63rd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment

68th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment

105th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment

141st Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment

I'll be posting up pictures of the Union command and artillery later this week.

Monday, May 20, 2013

Here are some pictures of the American Civil War Confederate Command and Artillery that I completed last year at the same time I finished the infantry. I didn't take pictures at the time, but in anticipation of a game a few of us have planned for the 26th, I broke them out to finish documenting the army as it stands. I recently acquired a box of Perry Confederates that I'll be making the last two South Carolina regiment's from Kershaw's Brigade out of. After that I will likely just add new command stands and some cavalry (both mounted and dismounted) down the road sometime as I'll have close to 300 infantry! All of the figures are 28mm Sash & Saber and were painted by Philgreg Painters (I did the horses, cannons and basing). Flags are the great GMB Flags. A few of the photos are a bit off; I'll try to remember to redo them next time I'm taking pictures.

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Well I finally took the plunge on a "kickstarter". Earlier today I pledged "The Winged Hussar Retainer Level" for the By Fire & Sword miniatures rules (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1729776659/by-fire-and-sword-historical-tabletop-wargame). I pledged $75 to cover the level of support I wanted along with postage. Since the merchandise will be shipping from Poland I thought it a decent investment for a 400 page hard cover book. The book is currently available in Polish, but after doing a small test batch of English copies that were released at SALUTE 2013 the company, Wargamer.pl, put up a "kickstarter". You can find out more about Wargamer.pl and the rules at http://www.fireandsword.wargamer.pl/

Eventhough I have always loved this period and area when it comes to wargaming I had never done a "kickstarter" so I had reservations about the process. After talking with some friend that had supported other "kickstarter" efforts and following the great write-ups about the rules on the Anatoli's Gameroom blog (http://anatolisgameroom.blogspot.com/) I finally through my support behind it.

Now I just have to wait for the rules. This will probably push me into building armies for the game...sadly I sold off my Poles and Swedes years ago when I couldn't find any rules that I enjoyed and my gaming interests shifted; I wish I still had them, but this will give me an opportunity to start over and hopefully engage some of the other local players in the game.

Friday, May 17, 2013

Here are some pictures and a brief write-up supplied by my friend Neil who has a wonderful set up for Command & Colors Ancients in 28mm.

Six of the North Phoenix Irregulars recently gathered at Imperial Outpost Games for another 28mm Command & Colors Ancients Epic scenario. Our previous games have followed the career of Alexander the Great. In this case, it was the decisive battle of the Second Punic War, Zama. The scenario was played as written. Two complete games were played over the course of a Saturday afternoon with players switching sides and roles (e.g., no one played the central sector/battlefield commander more than once). While the second game was closer than the first (14 - 11 and 14 - 8), the Carthaginians were defeated in both games as their flanking cavalry tended to be out-classed and overrun while the five elephants in the center were never able to inflict sufficient damage to fatally weaken the Roman center. As before, a good time was had by all and we appreciate Imperial Outpost for hosting the game.